Snakes in Hogwarts

Severus Snape felt that he had had a terrible life these few days.

To be honest, his days at Hogwarts didn't go well.

And this discomfort became more intense after Harry Potter enrolled.

Whenever he saw Harry's emerald green eyes in Potions class or elsewhere, Snape would have some unpleasant memories in his heart.

For these eyes, he has a very complicated emotion.

Even after so many years, I can't forget it, just never show it.

As an excellent Occultist, Snape has always believed that showing emotion is a shameful and weak behavior.

Originally, his life had been very difficult, but until recently, Snape angrily discovered that he was apart from the heavy teaching work and the special tasks assigned by Dumbledore.

Dumbledore actually arranged a new task for himself.

Does he really think of himself as a corpse that won't get tired?

Monitoring Andros?

Watching a little devil who is only eleven years old?

Did he eat a pile of cockroaches and ruin his head?

If possible, Snape really wanted to ask Dumbledore what he thought.

But he couldn't, because the latter never seemed to express his thoughts.

Except those that Snape should know.

And over time, Snape also gradually discovered that Andros was different from his peers.

Since he accepted Dumbledore's instructions and began to observe Andros intentionally or unintentionally, an extremely awkward sense of familiarity has lingered in his heart.

Moreover, this feeling became stronger with the deepening of his understanding of Andros, so that he had to use Occlumency to suppress this inexplicable feeling.

This symptom lasted for a long time. It wasn't until last night that he gradually understood why he felt this way.

...

Those clever little ghosts would certainly not have imagined that Snape had set up a clever detection trap outside of his office after meeting them for a night tour in the cafeteria for the first time.

It is an alchemy prop that can distinguish wizards by identifying different magic powers between wizards. It looks like a surveillance camera in the Muggle world.

This is what he asked from Dumbledore to monitor Andros.

It seems that what Old Deng has for Andros is definitely not as simple as his little interest and curiosity.

As for whether Dumbledore made it himself or his personal collection, Snape didn't know.

Of course, he doesn't care about these, as long as this thing works.

As the most mysterious power in the world, magic power can be simply understood as a spiritual power produced in the soul of a wizard.

Since this power comes from the soul, the magic power of each wizard will inevitably be different because of the difference in the soul.

Those wizards with irritable characters will also react fiercely to their magic, and those wizards with a calm personality will have more control over their magic.

Some clever wizards can even judge the whereabouts of the target by sensing the remnants of magic power in the air, or they can make such a small object for surveillance based on this principle.

During a close observation of Andros practicing spells in an empty classroom, Snape easily used a special method to collect Andros' magic fragments, and the latter had no knowledge of this.

Of course he didn't know anything, if Andros could realize this, then it would be really weird!

A first-year student actually saw through the invisibility magic of a former dark wizard who was clever and skilled in this way?

This is simply impossible.

Merlin was not so fierce in the first grade.

...................

Yesterday evening, when he sensed the magic signal from the surveillance device, Snape immediately became sober.

For a long time, he has been in a kind of shallow sleep, and he will wake up from his sleep if he changes slightly.

This is one of the side effects of maintaining Occlumency all year round, and it will be difficult for the caster to get a good night's sleep.

Another simple use of Occlumency is to immediately dispel the sleepiness in your mind, leaving yourself fully awake and absolutely sane.

This may also be the wonder of magic. The same spell is likely to produce two very different results.

Snape hurriedly climbed out of the bed, then applied various spells to cover his whereabouts and poured a bottle of unknown potion from the potion box he carried. He gently opened the door and walked along Andros and others. The direction of departure followed quickly.

Originally, Snape thought he had finally caught Andros' little tail.

Yes, Snape always felt that something was wrong with this boy.

No freshman could discover the ingeniously hidden Hogwarts kitchen on the first day of school, and Andros's excuse was nothing more than an overkill to Snape.

He is not so easy to fool around!

However, after Snape's observation, this damn kid was really very cautious.

Except for showing a high degree of self-discipline and a strong desire for knowledge in the past month or so, he has not revealed much information at all.

He basically doesn't travel at night, and besides that, he doesn't seem to find any other secret rooms and secret passages at Hogwarts.

This made Snape quite upset.

Until tonight, things finally changed.

Following the little snakes groping forward in the dark, the corners of Snape's mouth turned up slightly, and he felt that he had finally touched Andros's little tail.

What Snape never expected was that the reason these guys didn't sleep in the middle of the night was actually going to a duel with Potter and the others!

Are these guys' heads stuffed with cow dung!

Seeing the incomparably childish duel between these two groups of people in the prize showroom, he was really going to be mad!

Did you come out at night to see this?

If it wasn't for not revealing his traces, he would definitely catch all these people, and then send them all into his office for severe criticism and education.

However, Snape's expression gradually became complicated when he saw Potter being knocked to the ground severely by Draco and wantonly insulted by the latter.

That might seem to be the joy of revenge?

Or is it entanglement and heartache?

It's hard to believe that there are so many expressions on a person's face.

For the first time, a fleeting confusion appeared in his deep, emotionless eyes that were as deep as a black hole. It seemed that a certain dusty memory was surging uncontrollably in his mind.

However, Snape quickly suppressed his inner emotions.

When Ron Weasley was tightly bound by Andros with a spell, Snape's eyes had returned to the way they were before, empty, cold, and emotionless.

He silently watched what was happening in front of him, and after Neville's yelling attracted Mrs. Loris, these little ghosts began to flee.

Snape gave up tracking Andros without hesitation.

He followed Potter all the way until they finally reunited with the Slytherin snake and entered the closed gate of the penalty area.

Looking at the closed door, Snape tried to rush in several times to save the stupid Gryffindor idiot.

But he finally restrained himself.

After seeing these guys escape from the restricted area without incident, Snape walked to the principal's office with a calm face and reported to Dumbledore.

I think we are all very clear about what happened afterwards.

.....................................

When Snape came out of the principal's room on the eighth floor and returned to his lounge, it was already two o'clock in the morning.

Dumbledore's words, coupled with what happened tonight, and those long-lost memories, finally made Snape realize the origin of that strange feeling when he observed Andros.

That is an extremely strange similarity.

Andros now looks no different from what he was studying at Hogwarts.

The same effort, the same love and obsession with magic.

The same talent.

Even, there is also a female partner who knew each other well before the start of school but was not assigned to a college.

Sitting slumped on the bed, Snape thought foolishly.

The memories that belonged to him began to flood, and this time, he no longer chose to restrain.

Perhaps, only in this room where a powerful anti-reconnaissance curse was imposed, in this small corner that belonged to him alone, would he reveal those human feelings.

After a long time, Snape gently opened the drawer of the bedside table and fumbled for a small object.

It is a very common wooden cipher box in the Muggle world, but in terms of style, it has been a product many years ago.

Without using the lock-opening spell, Snape gently turned the number on it under the dim light.

1, 3, 0

Click.

Snape stretched out his hand to open the wooden box, his hand trembling not at all like a potion master with countless potions.

Accompanied by the sound of the machine, a piece of soothing music sounded in this exquisite code box.

This turned out to be a music box?

Staring at the contents of the box, Snape was shaking.

He seems to be sobbing?

It was an old Muggle photo that had been yellowed. On it, two children stood together carefree.

Their smiles look sweet.

Muddy tears overflowed from Snape's eye sockets. They were like two transparent thin lines that slowly glided across his pale cheeks, and finally gathered to his chin, dripping into the music box that was still playing music.

Below the photo, there is also a piece of letter paper that is also yellowed, and the handwriting wet with tears is still clearly visible:

...

Happy birthday, Lily.

I sincerely ask you to forgive me, no matter what I have to pay for it.

You always loyal Snape.

January 9, 1977.

.....

After all, Snape was also a poor man.

One of countless poor people.

Who doesn't have bitter pasts that he doesn't want to recall?

Better than Dumbledore, isn't he a poor man?

It's just that they deliberately chose to forget.

The night is long, will you still have the heart to sleep?

................................................. ...........................

Faced with Andros' magic, Snape, who hadn't slept all night, didn't even react for a while.

Andros, the little guy who was concentrating on controlling the air ball was also shocked by the sudden appearance of Snape. His body trembled, subconsciously interrupting the transmission of magic power.

This means that he can no longer control this magical wind mixed with magical power.

The foul wind brought by the mixing of countless potions whizzed past him, and Snape hadn't even had time to release a simple bubble head curse.

The taste is probably far more than any kind of dung eggs or dirty public toilets.

Time seemed to have stagnated at this moment. After a long time, a roar enough to reach the castle auditorium sounded from the door of the underground classroom.

"Lobach, what the hell are you doing!"